There is nothing like a road trip to get me thinking about what I want to do with my various sites and why I am online. Sitting 5-6 days driving in one direction, visiting family and then turning around and driving back for another 5-6 days meant I got to think a lot – a real lot…

I thought about what was satisfying about keeping a blog and why I was doing it. I was thought about this blog and was trying to figure why it did not have the same spark for me. I also was trying to decide what I was going to do with my old site of In a Minute Ago when the two ideas clashed together and I realised that this blog had become focused on just sketching and that is only one aspect of journaling. So I have decided to re-launch In a Minute Ago as a site which explores the rich diversity of contemporary journals and journaling techniques and turn it into a resource site that offers ideas and prompts that people can have fun with. Since sketching is part of my journaling practice I will be blogging about it and related topics over there. So dear readers this blog will go dormant

As I write I realize this is the 12th time we have done this road trip across Australia but…the last time was 28 years ago. It is an unexpectedly interesting experience sitting in the car hour after hour. Of course our conversation touches on all sorts of topics. Commenting on how this or that is different. Our conversation moves in and out of the trivial stuff of travel, on how much our petrol consumption is, or we hazard a bet on what the coffee in the next small town is likely to be like. Other times as the road stretches out before us our talk turns to times past and to review some period in our lives while also noticing the wildlife of emus, hawks, kestrels, kangaroos and Pelicans. Rain clouds build on the horizon and wind buffets the car. Or we act like two old people and complain at other drivers who appear fatigued or lost. We observe the health of the land, new industries and old industries gone. In some parts of the country the land looks sicker in other the land looks healthier. Wind and Solar farms are noticeable additions to the view. The miles tick on and conversation wanders …

This sketch is done in watercolor, graphic tint pencils, watercolor pencil, and Pitt pen in a Hahnemühle “Draft and Sketch” book which is made up of 140gsm natural white paper. It is not really made for watercolor and wet media but seems to be handling it OK.

This is my first contribution towards #WorldWatercolorMonth

World Watercolour Month will run during July. The aim is share and inspire people to paint with watercolor or gouache in the process also highlighting the importance of art and creativity. Anyone can join, create something with Watercolour,aquarelles gouache Simply tag any art that uses watercolors (or gouache) with #WorldWatercolorMonth.

In between the chaos of packing clothes, art gear, food, camping stuffs, checking if things work, replacing things that don’t…. And all that pre trip activity, I have been playing at school projects. Just like my school projects when I was a child they are a bit dodgy but they do get the information across.

We are going to drive across Australia and since announcing our trip plans over on Pintangle.com I have had a few emails indicating that many people outside Australia don’t really have a sense of how big the place is. So I went looking for maps of Australia overlapping USA and Europe. I tried to find one that was open source so I was legally able to share it. But I could not find one so I decided to start my travel journal and sketch out a pair.

The first image is a map of Australia that overlaps USA. The red line is the route we will take across the country, starting in Canberra and driving to Fremantle just south of Perth.

Here is a map of Australia overlapping Europe. As readers can see this little tootle down the road is actually quite a road trip.

If you want to confirm my maps just google “map of Australia overlapping USA” or “Map of Australia overlapping Europe”.

Anyway as we travel I plan to keep in touch here, perhaps share some sketches from my travel journal, photos and stuff. I am going to try a few different things in my travel journal – so it should be fun and perhaps it might spark a few ideas for your next travel journal too.

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The local Urban Sketchers group decided to do some urban sketching in Canberra City and as usual we all had a great day. We met in the middle of the city which Canberrans call Civic.

The day was very blustery, with leaves and dust blowing everywhere so sitting outside was a bit of challenge but that did not deter people. They were soon in the spirit of it and sketchers could seen dotted all over the place.

I sketched the 4 Icarus statues by Jan Brown that are in the pedestrian mall. I am still experimenting a bit with media. Today you would have found in my hands 2 watercolour pencils each a different shade of sepia/brown a hero ink pen loaded with brown De Atramentis ink but having fun. A smidgen of burnt umber, burnt siena watercolour paint to which I smooshed a bit of Paynes grey. I am currently using a Stillman and Birn Mixed media Alpha series sketchbook.

If you are interested in Urban sketching, the Canberra Urban Sketchers group meet on the first Sunday of the month and everyone is welcome. It is fun informal group. You can see what is happening on the groups Facebook page

After my Sydney trip I have been reviewing my personal goals and have decided that I am going to do the 100 day project challenge and apply it to sketching

What is the 100 day project? The 100 Days Project is open to anyone who wants to develop their creative skills. The full details are at TheGreatDiscontent.com but the idea is to repeat a creative exercise every day for 100 days. In my case I have decided to define that task as activity in my sketchbook. I imagine most days that activity will be sketching but I am leaving the definition open so if I want to add collage or want to experiment I can do so.

This is my Day 1 of my 100 Days Project challenge. I plan to post every few days my progress – hopefully there is some!

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